BBC news with Jerry Smit

President Obama's top counter-terrorism advisor John Brennan has given the most detailed explanation so far of America's use of drone attacks to kill suspected terrorists. In a speech in Washington, Mr Brennan said the strikes by unmanned aircraft were helping to win the war against Al Qaeda. Paul Adams reports.

This is not the first time the Obama administration has confirmed the use of drone strikes, but Jone Brennan has gone further than anyone so far in laying out the rationale for a policy that remains controversial. He said he had been told by the president to be more open with the American people. He said drone strikes were legal, ethical, necessary and proportional, overseen with what he called extraordinary care and thoughtfulness, especially when the target was an American citizen. Al Qaeda was, he said, losing badly. For the first time since America's war on the organization began, Mr Brennan said it was possible to envision a world in which the core of Al Qaeda was no longer relevant.

Ukraine is coming under growing pressure from Europe over the treatment of the jailed former prime minister Yulia Tymoshenko. Five European presidents have said they won't attend the summit in Ukraine next month. The German Chancellor Angela Merkel says she might boycott football matches staged there during Euro 22. Mr Tymoshenk, a political rival of the current Ukrainian president, is serving 7 years in prison after being convicted of abuse of office.